Notices by Idealistic Pragmatist :mstdn: (ipedmonton@mstdn.ca)

I am fond of pointing out that in the early part of the pandemic, we stopped flu in its tracks completely (and even wiped out a whole strain) by wearing crappy masks badly. Well, it turns out those same crappy masks prevented a whole boatload of COVID too! As someone who herself was wearing crappy masks at the time, I say: pretty impressive for crappy masks, worn badly.

https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/2/pgae065/7606553#

@Dana how gorgeous!

@tchambers @jdp23 @mike @Gargron @chad for the instances that are trying to be communities, it does “matter”, though? It just matters for social rather than technical purposes.

Happy #Caturday! I love this one’s expressions so much. ❤️

@yurnidiot wow! What sort of cat is that?

@DavidM_yeg @ParadeGrotesque @dialect I don’t think most people are in the “know in their hearts, won’t admit to themselves” place, though. I certainly know bunches of those too (some of them from here), but they too are the minority.

@ParadeGrotesque @dialect I certainly know bunches of people who learned those things. I don’t think most people learned much of anything, though.

@feditips @David then it should be easy fix you to make this change! 😀

For what it’s worth, I AM technically American (though I haven’t lived there in decades), and I have plenty of connections to the country. Recovery from societally induced US-centrism is difficult, but possible.

@feditips @David you can indeed only recommend accounts that exist, but you can also be careful in how you call a feed, by not promoting the idea that US-based things are somehow “general” or the default. Thanks for making this change.

@David @feditips ALL of this.

@feditips @David that’s not the point. The point is that if a feed consists exclusively or even mainly of AMERICAN news, it should be called “US news”, not “general news”. So far, the Fediverse has not been a US-centric place, and that’s a delight. Let’s preserve that, not change it.

@lmorchard @gorskon @realtegan @sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh

Mail-in voting is great! It is, however, possible to set up in-person voting in a way that never requires anyone to stand in a line, though. I’ve never stood in a line since my immigration to Canada, also from Michigan (and I’ve voted at both busy and non-busy times). It’s plenty civilised here. The US just chooses not to set it up like that.

@dahukanna I'm not of that world, but I'm super curious now: what IS an experience designer? What kinds of experiences do you design?

This article tells the story of how their “Elevating Clean” programme came about. Apparently they tried EVERYTHING early on and then gradually figured out (as it became clear that transmission occurs through the air and not from surfaces) which things would actually help. /2

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/space-needle-sees-the-light-on-virus-fighting-technology-as-it-tests-new-devices-in-elevators/

@novid #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne

In fall 2022, I stumbled upon this page on the Seattle Space Needle’s website and realized that they were using ALL the existing tools to make the indoor parts of the structure as COVID-free as possible. Like, they were actually implementing the COVID science nerd’s dream. I’m really pretty anti-tourist-trap stuff, but I decided that I someday HAD to see this in person. Yesterday was the day. /1

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne @novid

https://www.spaceneedle.com/elevatingclean

One thing that surprised me in a bad way was how BAD the ventilation was in all the indoor spaces! In fact, if I had to guess, I’d bet that the Elevating Clean programme started when they tried to upgrade the ventilation and realized that they either weren’t going to be able to or that it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough (so they did EVERYTHING else). /5

@novid #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne

Before you even enter the structure, you see these posters everywhere describing the programme. To me, this was honestly the BEST part? They could have quietly taken measures and not bothered telling anyone about them (like my employer, ahem), but instead they’ve got a full-fledged public education campaign going. It warmed my COVID-science-nerd heart. /4

@novid #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne

They have sadly (but probably inevitably) now done away with mandatory masking, but one of the non-tech-related measures they’ve actually kept is the timed entry thing. You don’t just buy a ticket and come whenever, you buy a ticket for a particular fifteen-minute time slot so that it’s less crowded. It's a small thing, but it also improves the experience for non-COVID-related reasons, so it's definitely worth keeping! /3

@novid #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne

I’m a social scientist, so I’m not sure whether this is irony or some other sort of literary device. But...apparently someone REALLY DID create a @johnmastodon account on the birdsite (presumably sometime today) and it REALLY DID get suspended. ?

#JohnMastodon